Being the amazing, true-to-life adventures and (very likely) misadventures of a writer who seeks to take his education, activism and seemingly boundless energy to North Minneapolis, (NoMi) to help with a process of turning a rapidly revitalizing neighborhood into something approaching Urban Utopia. I am here to be near my child. From 02/08 to 06/15 this blog pushed free speech to the envelope, so others could take heart and speak unafraid. Email me at hoffjohnw@gmail.com

Monday, June 21, 2010

Chief Dolan Asks Citizens To Call In Curfew Violations...

Photo and blog post by John Hoff

Last week, Minneapolis Chief Dolan addressed community concerns about crime, and asked for help from the public. One of the things Chief Dolan requested was for members of the public to call in curfew violations. Of course, the fact Hennepin County has an overly-complicated curfew law.......makes matters slightly more difficult. Many times I've heard the curfew law summarized as "no juveniles out after midnight," which is just, well, inadequate as far as a thumbnail summary.

I mean, 12-year-olds aren't supposed to be out past NINE, for crying out loud, so why would I want to wait THREE WHOLE HOURS to call in a 12-year-old violating curfew? That's shortchanging the juvenile, (who should be home safe) the police and the neighborhood.

Yes, there are freebie fridge magnets floating around which provide handy-dandy reference to the curfew times, but I decided to create something even handier: a virtual fridge magnet.

If you look to the right side of this blog, right above the "No Chimos" logo (No Child Molestors) you will notice I have made an image of the curfew fridge magnet a permanent feature of this blog. So, whenever readers see a juvenile out late at night, and want to check the curfew times against the perceived age of the juvenile...just pull up this blog and look at the fridge magnet. You can get the times that way. This is Johnny Northside Dot Com's way of showing support for Chief Dolan.

And now a few words from the chief...

Last weekend was very busy, and I am sure that many of you are wondering what the police department is doing to keep the city safe. We know the one of the keys to prevention is to have police where crime is most likely to occur. We also know that some high density areas need police presence for people to feel safe. Being visible and proactive in those areas is key. I salute our patrol officers because their proactive traffic stops have been up dramatically in the last few weeks.

We are also focusing resources on identifying likely offenders. We have different efforts targeted at known violent offenders ranging from daily intelligence to patrol officers and undercover efforts by investigators. Getting guns off the street is important. Our evidentiary gun seizures are up 16 percent from last year. Officers have taken nearly 400 guns off the street this year already.

We need the help of the community. One of the patterns we did see with the fatal shootings over the past weekend was that they were related to parties and disturbances. I will never have enough officers to have someone at every street corner in the city. I also know you would not want to see officers on every corner. We depend on residents to call 911 to report those parties and disturbances. A timely appearance at any one of those parties last weekend by a neighborhood squad would likely have prevented some shootings. We also want to know about kids out after curfew. Curfew hours vary depending on age and the day of the week. Simply put though: no one under eighteen should be out past midnight. Parents should know where their kids are, and they should not be letting their kids stay out late anywhere. Time and time again we find that kids out after curfew are not engaged in productive activities and we want to curtail that behavior.

Our crime rates are still low. The overall year-to-date crime rate in 2010 is down from 2008 which was down from 2007 and 2006. No crime is ever acceptable, but I feel that many are using our recent crime increase as a tool to try to instill fear into all who would live and visit Minneapolis. I ask that we all become more determined. Be extra observant and please call 911 when you believe we should be intervening.

I called in a fight in the street the other night and I swear the cops were there in about 2 minutes. Of course the little hoodlums had all ran off by then but I was still impressed with the quick response. I don't know how quick they'll show for curfew violations but so far I can't complain too much.

Great to hear that the police are actively seeking to enforce this curfew.

I know the cops are very busy reacting to calls, but it would be nice to see a few patrols come up and down the residential streets more often without being called to keep anti-social behaviors in check in the stable blocks too.

Here's a follow up city-wide message from Chief Dolan. Good Work Community and Police!~~~Monday June 21, 2010 5:05 PM CDT

To All:

Last Friday, I asked residents to make sure they call 911 when they see a disturbance, kids out after curfew, or loud parties. I want to cite some examples from this last weekend that show how valuable 911 calls can be:

Early Sunday morning, at about 3:00 AM, officers were called to investigate a woman screaming near the rear parking lot of Lee’s Liquor Lounge on Glenwood. Officers found an adult woman who was being sexually assaulted. The suspect was found hiding nearby. He was arrested for sexual assault.

Near midnight on Sunday, 4th Precinct officers responded to a resident call about a possible burglary in progress on the 2900 Block of Oliver Avenue North. The caller knew that this resident had numerous firearms in his home and was out of town. Responding officers saw someone run from a nearby address and arrested him nearby with four guns. A search warrant based on those officers’ information turned up another thirteen stolen guns – including several collectable assault rifles. I can only imagine how much trouble those guns would have caused on the street in the wrong hands.

I talked in my message Friday about needing officers to be in the right place. This morning, at about 2:30 AM, a downtown beat officer working off-duty near Pizza Luce, 114 North 4th Street, heard shots being fired. He saw suspects fleeing and gave chase. Clothing and a gun were found dumped in an alley, and responding officers who had surrounded the area arrested three. At least two of the three arrested were at the scenes of recent homicides.

I give kudos to our residents and officers for outstanding work this weekend. The above is just a sampling of their fine work. Please continue in your efforts to assist us in making our City as safe as possible.

Keep guns off the street? If you own a firearm, especially collectible pieces, spring for a safe if it's not on you 24/7, you cheap douches. This is where the ne'er-do-wells get their guns, you! It's great that reasonable and responsible citizens call the cops after hearing a woman being raped, and that the police are doing their jobs. But Chief Dolan's pat on the head and comfort talk still doesn't give me confidence in the city's limited resources. When I see more police and more camoed out SWAT teams rolling down Dowling I'll feel better. Note, this is NOT police bashing it's tax payer and federal cuts bashing!

To the anonymous commenter at 1:03, I don't think this blog has ever taken a position on that issue, nor do I see any need for this blog to take a position on that issue. It's very tangential to the topic at hand, only loosely related, and not something I that captures my interest enough for me to come up with any answer.

There is a simple way to tell if someone is underage ( look at them ). It is not that simple to tell if someone is here illegally... You could look at them and make a judgment. But I bet you'll just be wasting your time...

don't waste your time trolling on blogs.... or maybe you could just read this one :